Day One Aspirations
The sun rises on the breaking point of a new morning, the air rife with the aroma of breakfast having been freshly prepared. The aroma travels through the house ticking the nose of the sole inhabitant of it's current residence waking up the sound sleeper. "Hey I know that smell, thats some of moms homemade bacon and eggs. I think I smell dads breakfast buttered rolls with the grapefruit on the side. A good breakfast is the sure fire way to start a day off right". Kaine spoke quickly deatching himself from the hold is bed had on him. Breaking his gaze on the stairs leading to the kitchen only long enough to make his bed. Good Morning Mom, dad and thanks fo- whats this? kaine questioned as he picked up a written letter which was sat down beside his food. Dear Kaine. "Your father and I are both are doing a job today, the location of our job calls for us to be gone for quite some time two weeks to be exact. We are trusting you to be in charge and remember the rules. You are to wash behind your ears, be in bed by 9:45, and if you make a meal wash the dishes. PS Don't forget to take out the trash and tell your friend we said hi." Love mummy & daddy "Oh so much for having breakfast with everyone this morning, but there's no reason to let all this go to waste. Its bad luck to waste food, maybe afterwards I can catch up to Haruhi and see what she is up today". Kaine said quickly scooting p his chair and preparing to feast on his succulent breakfast. The large and bustling city of Ruminoa had a new resident among them, but for how this new person would stay is anybody's guess. Currently, this person was walking to Kaine's house. Haruhi, the new resident of this city was wearing her usual attire expect that she didn't have her usual blue cloak on. This meant that not only her ears were showing, but the cylindrical shaped hilt that was hanging from her belt. The cylindrical hilt wasn't that big, it was only three feet long and had a radius of half an inch. The hilt was bright blue with a line of grey or white here and there. As Haruhi walked, the hilt occasionally bumped against her right leg and each time it did Haruhi debated whether to throw the thing away. Not because it annoyed her, but because she hated weapons. In fact, she hated violence in general. She was finally beginning to think that it would be a good idea to throw it away, when she finally reached Kaine's house. Haruhi slowly walked up to the door and softly knocked on it. Completely enamored by his breakfast Kaien nearly missed hearing the door. Huh? who in the world is knocking at the door this early. I hope it's not the neighbors asking for sugar again. Kaine said painfully tearing himself away from his breakfast. "For the last time we don't have any sua-" Stopping mid sentence he saw the signature pointy ears of his new acquaintance Haruhi Kaneko "Oh snap Haruhi, I ehhh wasn't expecting you so early today, sorry I thought you were the neighbors asking for sugar. They always ask for something we dont have because they always use it up". Kaine said tempted to rub Haruhi's ears due to a rumor he heard of rubbing elves bringing good luck. For now he would wait till later. "Well my friend come on in, I was just eating breakfast". Kaine openned the door wider for Harui to walk through. Haruhi stood quietly in front of the door until Kaine opened it. When Kaine opened the door she smiled and said before she walked in, "Maybe you should start selling sugar if the demand is really that high." Haruhi's voice was sarcastic yet not teasing, but what she said wasn't that bad an idea if you didn't care how your neighbors thought of you. "Sell the sugar to our neighbors?? oh no that is a terrible idea and invites bad karma. My parents and neighbors get along quite well that could ruin relations. Everyone knows to be on bad terms with your neighbor is inviting bad luck". Kaine said alarmingly, his voice trife with slight fear. Kaine was extremely superstitious and while some of the one's he made up on his own, others he got from seeing the luck of others. "Come join me for breakfast you know its not good to go skipping the most important meal of the day". Kaine said walking back in this chair to reassume is consumption of breakfast. "I am actually glad you came, I was gonna come find you afterward since my parents will be gone for two weeks. It's gonna be pretty boring and I was gonna see if you had someting you wanted to do. I feel inspired this morning". Kaine said in a estatic voice, his motivation was clearly was in high gear. Haruhi followed Kaine to the table and sat down next to him without getting anything to eat because she was not hungry. "Sure, what do you want to do? Go on a mission?", Haruhi asked. The last mission she went on resulted in a fight, so she was more adamant then usual about not fighting. That thought brought up another question to her mind, why are most of the missions about fighting, why not peace missions or running a store while the owners are gone. "Hmmm I think a mission would be nice, but nothing that involves hardwork". Kaine said declaring that last part of his sentence as the most important. "The last mission we were on I was sweating like a pig and running for my life, two things id rather avoid today if we can help it". Kaine said eating the breakfast roles that remained on his plate. "You aren't eating, you should eat its bad luck to miss breakfast and you know I dont like bad luck, here at least eat one of the grapefruits". Kaine offered her up a grapefruit hoping she would take it. he was shakin slightly as her refusal which to him invited bad luck. "Most jobs for mages require physical work of some kind.", Haruhi said as she caught the grapefruit with her right hand. "Also, I already ate breakfast, so your luck will stay intact .", Haruhi said, reassuring Kaine. Haruhi wasn't lying, but she didn't feel the need to say that the breakfast she had was only a single apple. She figured that that part would cause Kaine to worry about his luck again. "Not always maybe we can broaden our search for something less physically demanding. I heard that at that Nemean Lion Guild theres a job that no one will take, it deals with helping feed animals in the petting zoo. The staff is underhanded and are paying for some new help. I think that's the best job. Kaine said smiling as Haruhi said she ate breakfast. What do you think and guess what you wont have to fight". Kaine said making Haruhi and offer she couldn't refuse. Haruhi let out a soft sigh before responding, "Don't you it is suspicious that no one would choose an easy job like this. I bet there is at least one animal lover in that guild and the fact that no one has taken it yet makes me worried." Haruhi paused as she thought for a moment before continuing, "Who is the customer?" "Nope those guys there call themselves Nemean Lion, they hunt for big prey and jobs. Something as miniscule as this they would pass up because its not challeneging enough. Meaning it's the perfect job for us to take, nothing can possibly go wrong." Kaine nodded his head acknowledging his own choice of jobs. "Not sure yet I didn't get a good look at the poster, but I do know where it is. We head there after I get dressed and finish eating of course". Kaine said turning his attention back to his world class breakfast. He would not be sweayed from finishing his meal Haruhi was surprised that Kaine said, "nothing could possibly go wrong." She always thought that those words were taboo as far as luck goes. "I thought it was bad luck to say, 'what could go wrong.'", Haruhi responded with a small smile. She was glad that they had finally found a non violent job, but something in the back of her head told her to be cautious. "GASP!!!! Oh no". Kaine said freezing his in tracks. His heart nearly seized and stopped in his chest. "I spoke so freely and did not even manage my words. I have done the ultamite no no. I... I invited the idea of bad luck and now it is bound to happen". Kaine spoke fearfully sliding out of his chair and comically falling on his face to the floor. "How could I have been so foolish as to not guide my tongue and wa-" Kaine said opening is eyes. Wait... its not to late to undo the bad luck, there is but one thing that can wipe my slate clean of the day. Standing up Kaine slowly turned to is partner in Crime Haruhi. Haruhi this calls for the last resort to invite good luck back into the equation. "I must rub you for good luck. I heard in a folk story of a man who rubbed against and elf and his luck improved immensely. His days of prosperity that followed were great". Kaine said holding his right hand forward, slowly advancing on Haruhi. "Come now my friend a slight rub is all require to undo what I have done". Kaine said taking another step forward Haruhi tilted her head back so Kaine couldn't reach her ears as she said with a small smile, "I am not your good luck charm. If you want, I would be more than willing to find a four leaf clover for you." Haruhi didn't know how why rubbing an elf gave a person good luck. "If I was a good luck charm why am I not very lucky? Shouldn't a good luck charm be lucky?", Haruhi thought to herself. A skeptical look surfaced on Kaine's face as he stopped just short of Haruhi. "You're going to find me a four leaf clover. I have been searching for weeks in the nearby fields and found no such things and you can find one easily??.. Kaine said is last few words trailing off. "See Haruhi that is why you must let me rub your ears, you are good luck if you are easily finding clovers of such a caliber". Kaine said rubbing his hands together. "Now stop being stingy Haruhi and share some of that luck otherwise I wont be able to go outside without something bad happening". Kaine said slowly taking yet another step in Haruhi's direction. "You don't need luck Kaine, the mission will be fine. Nothing will happen.", Haruhi responded. "Plus, even if you did need it I bet you have at least one good luck charm.", she noted as she tilted her body away from Kaine. Haruhi paused for a second before continuing with a smile, "If I was lucky then, I wouldn't be in this situation everyday. However, I am in this situation every day which must mean that I am unlucky." Squinting his eyes Kaine realized that Haruhi was either trying to persuade him from rubbing her. She wanted to be stingy with the luck, however she was right he did have a good luck charm and he was looking at it. "I guess you're right I dont wanna try and overcompensate and bring more than what I need". Kaine said removing himself from the table and putting the dish in the sink." Let me put the rest of this food away since you didn't wanna eat and ill go get dressed. The I can give you a tour of my house and from there we can hit the road". Kaine said heading upstairs shortly after his trip to the sink. This was one of the many examples of why Haruhi appreciated her incredible wisdom. Her incredible wisdom grants her impressive persuasion skills. What Haruhi did was just an example of how persuasive she could be. She nodded in response to Kaine's comment and waited for him to return. She found that her mind wandered to Excalibur and the debate about whether she should break it in half or not. "ALRIGHT"!!! Kaine said skipping the last three steps as he landed flat footed on the ground. "Lets go make some easy money and have good fortune. I have a feeling this has good day- no great day written all over it. We shall seize it and make sure we get the best of out it". Kaine said in a joival voice. Haven eaten breakfast his spirit was lifted and motivation high. He was ready to take on the world and all it had to offer today. "Positive attitude check, plans for today check, good luck charm". Kaine said glancing over at Haruhi for a split second. Check. "Come my pointy eared good luck friend lets go". Kaine said running past the banister and grabbing his keys. It seemed that Haruhi was always interrupted as soon as she was about to make a decision regarding her weapon. She heard the part about good luck charm, but she decided that it wasn't worth the effort to restart their previous decision again. Haruhi stood up and followed Kaine out the door as she said, "How much is this job paying us?" Kaine's train of thought was interrupted by Haruhi's question when he himself realized he has no idea how much the job was paying, however he didn't want to seem unprepared for the mission so he figured he would give a estimation to it's reward. "Uh.. well Ahem its paying a decent amount for the size of the job it is of course. I'd say we are getting a fair price for our fair work you know. After all it's just feeding animals petting zoo animals since the staff there is underhanded". Kaine sais uneasily masking his skeptism as best he could. He got so caught in looking a the job he didnt even look at the pay. Haruhi paused as she noticed the skepticism in her new friend's voice, but she didn't say anything to indicate that she did. The only hint that she did notice was the very slight decrease in her walking pace. "How far is the Zoo?", Haruhi asked. Truthfully she didn't care, but asking a simple question like that could convince Kaine that she didn't notice the unease in his voice. "See the distance right". Kaine started knowing Haruhi may or may not like what she was about to hear to much tried to ease it on her. "Well, the zoo is on the other side of the district city of Kimotama. Sooo we have to walk to the train station and catch the train there. We could always use a teleportation spell I saw one of those mages from Nemean Lion use. I do remember it. Yes I remember it well". Kaine said resting two fingers from each hand to mold that memory of that image into his mind to prepare his magic. If Haruhi had greater skill with her Lifestream Magic she would have offered to construct a car, but that would require a lot of skill that she doesn't have, at least not yet. "I could simply fly us both to the zoo, it would consume less magic power, but I guess teleportation would be better since it's faster. Its not like we will need to use magic in the first place.", Haruhi said as she waited for Kaine to perform the spell. Kaine so caught up in his staring at Haruhi he relaized he hadn't even focused his mind on his magic to utilize the spell he envisioned. Ahem ah lets go" Memory-Make: Fleeting Step of The Hermes Kaine uttered as the area around him and Haruhi began to shake and rumble wth rocks riseing around them, a wide magic circle began encompassing the area beneath their feet and soon in a wis[ of wind and light the two were rushed from there pushed forward propelled by the speed of the teleportation and reappeared in front of the Gate to the Kimotama Zoo. "Thank you for traveling with Air Kaine Haruhi we hoped yo-" Kaine looked down at his feed and noticed his foot went right across a crack on the sidewalk which divided the pavement. "Step on a crack break youur mother's back.. Haruhi Look, i can't believe I was so careless and didnt think of where my foot would land". Kaine said pointing in absoulte horror at his own miniscule mistake. To most this would be nothing but to Kaine this offense cou;ld cost him his mother back, as a man who believed in Supersititons he was taken aback. "Haruhi!! What do I DO, QUICK?? kaine said looking at Haruhi for an answer to his present predicament." "You don't need to worry about it. I can heal people with magic remember?", Haruhi said. "If your mother does have a broken back I will do everything to heal her, even if it uses all my magic power.", she continued with a smile. Truthfully, Haruhi knew it wouldn't take all her magic power to heal a broken back. Maybe a fourth of it or half at most. "Whew see Haruhi I always told you that you were good luck and right there you just proved it. Its little moments like that shows me just much I love having you around". Kaine said as he wiped the droplets of sweat from his forehead. His outburst actually caused him to prespire a bit. "Now lets get in here and get to work, I can't wait to collect the money for such a trivial task of feeding the animals". Kaine smiled greedily as he rubbed his hands. The friction of his hands bothered him little as he thought solely about having some spending money. Little did he know that this trivial task was actually going to be far more difficult that he could imagine. "Nothing is ever simple.", Haruhi muttered under her breath as she walked toward the entrance of the Zoo. Haruhi has been on many missions that seemed simple, but it turned out to be extremely troublesome. In fact, the mission that eventually caused her to meet and fight Kaine was supposed to be a simple: all she had to do was deliver a letter. However, somehow she found herself in a situation where she was forced to fight Kaine. As Haruhi thought back on it she guessed that it wasn't so bad, after all she did gain a new ally because of that delivery mission. "Hello!! you guys must be the wizards we asked for, yea we are short handed on staff due to a nasty flu that was passed around". A man in khaki shorts and a blue collar shirt said. His name tag bouncing on his shirt reading the name Damien. "Im name is Damien, this is Samantha, and Cassie our supervisors who were available and who you will report too. The other 3 are your coworkers, Wallace, Gasper and Jonahs". Damien said point to each of them as they walked up behind him, each greeting themselves politely. "You could imagine there's only 5 of us and about 25 different animals and we can't take care of them all at the same time. We just need your help feeding them and putting them back into their cages after they enjoy their yard time for the next hour while we clean outs their cages and exhibits". Damien said showing both Kaine and Haruhi the cages and yards the animals would be in. When they stopped talking Haruhi could feel something was amiss a couple of miles away. It wasn't exactly malicious, but it definitely wasn't friendly either. As a pacifist, she did not like this. Not at all. "I hope this presence I feel will have nothing to do with us.", Haruhi thought to herself. "Ok, we will start right away.", she said aloud. "Yup you can rest easy knowing that this job is in our capable hands". Kaine smiled a huge grin, the job was simple in application and even easier in execution. Feeding and watching out for animals was no different than taking care of pets, just there was more than 2 or 3. "He was confident that his magic would allow him and Haruhi the abilities to get this done easily". See Haruhi like I said an easy job to handle. Kaine said looking over at hsi teammate.